Shoe laces are usually formed from woven textile materials, with each end of the lace being restrained by a metal or plastics sleeve for preventing fraying of the ends of the lace. It has in the past been proposed to elasticize shoe laces to enable the lace to be tied on a shoe, the elasticized nature of the lace enabling the shoe to be removed without the need to undo the lace. While laces of this nature offer the advantage of facilitating removal of the shoe without the need to undo the laces, they still require the laces to be tied, and this may be difficult for young children or physically impaired persons. Furthermore, the laces do not provide any significant additional decorative aspect to the shoe.